Winning percentage of white vs black during 1851-2015. As a result, we can conclude that white has an advantage in the first move. However, with skillful play and minimal mistakes, black can neutralize white’s initiative and attain equality.įrom the data in the table below, white has a higher win percentage than black. While this is not known to be completely correct, many results show that white has a slight advantage in the opening that could lead to a winning position. Some top players and theorists even speculate that white should win every time with the perfect play. Statistics show that white pieces outperform black pieces by a slight margin. Related Post: Is Chess a Sport or a Game Does White Have An Advantage With Moving First? All you need to do is change the position of the King and Queen so that the King is on its color. Nevertheless, if you are playing a friendly match and want the black pieces to move first, you can go right ahead. This would be disadvantageous because playing with black often requires a defensive strategy for white’s attacking play in the opening. And in a 6-round tournament, you may even end up playing 5 games with black pieces and 1 game with white pieces. However, tossing a coin would leave things up to random chance. If you are playing a 6-round chess tournament, expect to have 3 games with white and 3 games with black. This allows players to have an even outcome with black and white pieces. In official chess tournaments, arbiters use solving for color as a method for their pairing systems, whether for Round-Robin or Swiss tournaments. If any color could go first, then that could result in a lot of inconsistent results in chess tournaments. This topic has sparked many debates and it is important to understand why one color should always move first, especially in official chess tournaments.
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Why Is It Important for One Color to Move First? He figured that someone had to move first, so white was chosen to move first in tournament play. Wilhelm Steinitz, the first world chess champion, later advocated this rule as a standard. However, in 1880, the first recorded rule requiring white to move first was written in the handbook of the New York 1880 tournament. Until the late 1800s, the first move was commonly played by white or black, including the great international tournament of 1851. In the earlier days of chess, records showed the topic being discussed on and off for years. Although the game was shown as white, evidence shows that black actually moved first. This was proven to be true during the game of Anderssen vs Kieseritzky. Picture showing white making the first moveĬhess E4 opening move Why Does White Go First In Chess?īefore the Federation was built and rules were passed, it was believed that any color could move first. They then reveal the color of the selected piece: if it is white, they must make the first move. This decision is open to specific tournament rules, where players mutually agree to randomly assign colors.Ī basic method followed by many players is to grab a random piece from a bag.
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What is the Best First Move in Chess for Black?Īlthough the white player makes the first move, the official chess rules do not have a rule on determining who plays the white pieces.What is the Best First Move in Chess for White?.Is It Better To Go First or Second in Chess?.Making Your First Move With a Chess Clock.The Consequences of Overwriting the First-Move Rule.Is It Racist That White Pieces Move First in a Chess Game?.Does White Have An Advantage With Moving First?.Why Is It Important for One Color to Move First?.